Flight of the Nightingale
by Erin Salvatore
Summary: Robin thought that he was the sole survivor of the Gotham Circus Tragedy. That is, until he meets a new heroine named Nightingale, who turns out to be his long lost twin sister, Erika, who was adopted as a baby and had been a witness to that fateful night.


**Flight of the Nightingale**

**by Erin Salvatore**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. I'm just borrowing. The only things owned by me are the story and the guest characters, Serena McCloud and Erika Carson, a.k.a. Nightingale.**

_**Note: This Teen Titans story, which is also Robin/Raven centric, was an idea that I came up with a while ago, but didn't know if it was just as good written out as it was in my head. The plot is this: Robin thought that he was the sole survivor of the Gotham Circus Tragedy. That is, until he meets Nightingale, a new heroine that turns out to be his long lost twin sister, who was adopted as a baby and had been in the audience the night their parents were killed.**_

**Chapter 1**

_Downtown Jump City..._

**D**etective Serena McCloud stood by her patrol car, checking her watch every few seconds. Serena was an honorary member of the Teen Titans, Jump City's superhero team. She was also their contact on the Jump City Police, keeping them informed on new activity going on. Truth be told, she owed a great debt to the young heroes, and they owed quite a bit to her. Actually, she owed a great deal to their leader, Robin. A few months back, while pursuing a perp down an alley, Serena had almost been shot, but the Boy Wonder had arrived in the nick of time to prevent the asshole from firing so much as a bullet at her. The would-be shooter was arrested and from that time on, Serena had been in Robin's debt.

Speaking of the young hero, she smiled when he arrived, joined half a second later by Raven, who nodded at the detective, but didn't crack so much as a smile at her. There were times that the girl was a little too serious for her own good. _Must be all the times she hangs out at that place that Starfire calls her "favorite depressing cafe," _she thought.

"We came as soon as we got your message, Serena," said Robin, breaking the silence a few minutes later. "What have you got for us?"

Serena nodded and gave him a rather crude looking picture. "It would seem that there's a new vigilante in Jump City."

"Really?" said Robin, taking a look at the picture. "Where's he from?"

"Actually, it's a she," said Serena. "Her name is Nightingale and she most likely came here from Gotham."

"That's nothing new," said Robin. "People move here from Gotham all the time. This Nightingale doesn't look like she's much different from any of the new transfers I've seen." Curiously, he added, "How long has she been here?"

"Not long, probably about six months," said Serena. "Ever since she came here, she's been taking down bad guys just as easily as you and the rest of the Titans." She reached into her pocket and took out what looked like a CD and handed it to Robin. "Oh, and before I forget, this was found in an alley several nights ago. It has your name on it, Robin."

Robin looked at Raven and then back at Serena. "Why would Nightingale leave something like for me? She doesn't even _know_ me, and I don't know _her_, for that matter."

"She could be reaching out to you," said Serena. "Though, your guess is as good as mine as to why."

Raven raised an eyebrow. "Maybe she heard about you while she was in Gotham and wanted to track you down. That _could _be why she's here in Jump City."

"That's a good theory," said Robin. "But, I'll have to look at this disk to know exactly what I'm dealing with here." He smiled at Serena. "Thanks, Serena. If you need anything else, you know how to reach us."

Robin then got onto his R cycle and drove off toward the Tower, Raven flying above him. During the trek back, Robin thought about what Serena had told him about Nightingale and why she would be reaching out to him. _This is definitely weird,_ he thought. _Why would a virtually unknown girl who came here from Gotham want to reach out to me? Is it because she thinks that we have a connection or something?_

"_I take it you're just as baffled about this as I am?"_

Raven's question in his mind startled him somewhat, but Robin smiled slightly, remembering about the bond they had that existed ever since she went into his mind when he was having hallucinations about Slade.

"_Yeah, it's just so weird, a little too weird for my taste,"_ he replied. _"I mean, why did Nightingale have to go to all that trouble to leave me a recording on a disk? Couldn't she have tried to contact me on the computer back at the Tower?"  
_

"_Maybe we'll find out once we load it into the computer and listen to what she recorded," _said Raven. _"Whatever Nightingale has to tell you, it could be something we can use. Serena did say that she's been fighting crime for the past six months..."_

"_And how come we didn't know about it until now?"_

"_Beats me,"_ said Raven. _"But, as I said, we'll probably get a better understanding of what Nightingale has to say once we listen whatever message she placed on that disk."_

On a rooftop of an office building, Nightingale watched as Robin and Raven continued their trek toward the bay, where Titans Tower stood, watching over the city like a mighty sentinel. She knew that the gift she left in the alley would be found by the police eventually and that they'd give it to Robin. Once they had disappeared, she climbed down into a nearby alley and ducked into an abandoned building, where she removed the mask from her eyes to reveal her true identity: Erika Carson, the daughter of David and Michelle Carson. The Carsons had moved to Jump City because David had been transferred to Wayne Enterprises' new research lab to head a project they were working on.

However, Erika wasn't _really_ their daughter. She was originally born the daughter of John and Mary Grayson, as part of a set of twins. The Carsons adopted her and raised her as their own, while John and Mary raised the boy, Richard. Nine years later, John and Mary were killed in the Gotham Circus tragedy, and while Richard had been unaware, Erika was there to witness the whole thing. Following that fateful night, Erika followed his career as Robin, the sidekick to Batman, which then prompted her to do the same. This was what her life now consisted of: high school student by day, vigilante by night.

In fact, when she had designed her costume, she had created a black jumpsuit and boots, complete with a crimson red cape and mask, with a yellow _**N**_ emblazoned on her chest, as well as yellow utility belt to keep her weapons in. Erika also took karate, in which she was now a black belt, making her a formidable opponent for any criminal to face.

"Soon, Richard, we'll meet face to face," she whispered to herself. "I want to become part of your team and fight alongside you. We may have grown up separately, but perhaps this will finally reunite us. _You're_ the reason I became Nightingale, _and_ the reason I want to join the Teen Titans."

_**Note: Yeah, I haven't written a Teen Titans fanfic in quite a while (I wrote them all the time and then stopped), so I hope that this one is up to par. Robin and Nightingale will meet face to face in the next chapter.**_

_**Enjoy!**_


End file.
